Mia moved to Austin in the summer of 2017 with her husband and two cats. In the fall of 2019, she joined St. Edward’s University’s Masters of Arts in Counseling program, where she chose to specialize in intimate partnerships and family systems. During her schooling, Mia interned for Austin Family Institute, one of the few training facilities in Austin that prioritizes working from a family/systemic lens. Mia’s areas of clinical focus include trauma, grief & loss, intimate partners with long histories and a longer list of wounds,

As a therapist, Mia thrives on being creative and using metaphor to engage clients’ intellects and imaginations to get them to think about themselves and their relationships in new ways. Mia believes in the use of humor and celebration to craft a space in therapy that can hold both joy and hardship – a place clients look forward to returning to rather than dreading. She is also a fan of interpersonal neurobiology, and believes that our connections to ourselves physically, intellectually, and emotionally, as well as our connections to others shape the path to change and healing. Overall, her approach is eclectic; she often describes herself as “a different therapist for every client.” The kind of client that tends to thrive with Mia enjoys being challenged and possesses a willingness to engage in therapy creatively, be it with writing, music, art, crafting, or gaming.

She is a licensed LPC-Associate in the State of Texas, supervised by Lauren Masciarelli, LMFT-S, LPC-S.

In college, Mia had a professor who held her creative writing classes exclusively in the early morning. A vast majority of undergrads had a difficult time wanting to join, much less actually showing up for those early morning classes. So in service of her students, this professor set up a “tea and coffee station” in the classroom, complete with a selection of teas, sugar packets, honey, instant coffee, and a mini-fridge with milk and creamers. Each student would shuffle in with a mug from their dorm, fill it up, and spend the first part of their morning chatting with their classmates and coming alive with a steaming beverage between their hands.

That small act of care, comfort, and consideration to ease the discomfort of those early, often frostbitten mornings is where Teahouse Counseling gets its name. Therapy is often a place where we must sit in discomfort to serve the process of healing. A gesture of comfort and kindness can go a long way in making that burden just a bit easier to bear.

Conceptually, sharing a cup of tea is also symbolic of building connection with others. One of our founding principles is that connecting is healing, and healing is connecting. Your journey, whatever it is, will be made less burdensome if you find the people who will – metaphorically – share that cup of tea with you. And here, we strive to give you at least one person who will.